


If I Seem Dangerous Would You Be Scared

by AllYourFavesAreAce



Series: Otherworldly [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Original Character Death(s), a supernatual au (not the show) that no one asked for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 00:56:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10911018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllYourFavesAreAce/pseuds/AllYourFavesAreAce
Summary: Nishinoya Yuu just wanted to live a simple life with his sister. But that all falls apart after Yuu encounters a strange man in an alley on his way home from work one night.





	If I Seem Dangerous Would You Be Scared

**Author's Note:**

> hey y'all thanks for checking this out  
> I'd like to thank my partners in crime claud and bella for creating this au with me and making the past 7 months of my life hell (in a good way)  
> anyway this is my first time attempting to write anything even remotely angsty  
> this is supposed to be part 1 of a hopefully 10 fic series so fingers crossed for me managing to update within reasonable timeframes

The sound of his alarm clock rudely drags Yuu from a pleasant dream that he can't quite remember now that his mind is conscious. He turns the alarm off and lies back for a few moments of peace before finally throwing off the blankets and getting out of bed. He picks an outfit for work and goes to the bathroom for a quick shower. He quickly washes his hair and shuts off the water; towels off the excess water before wrapping it around his waist. He brushes his teeth and spends several minutes styling his hair up before throwing on his work clothes and making his way to the kitchen.

Yuu is in the middle of cooking breakfast when his little sister Mizuki bounds into the kitchen. Nishinoya Mizuki is energetic for an eight year old; their parents always used to say that she was taking after her big brother. When their parents died in a car accident while Yuu was in college, he dropped out of school to find a job and dedicate himself to taking care of Mizuki full time.

“Good morning, nii-chan!” she says, running over to give him a hug. Yuu pauses what he’s doing to return the hug and bend down to fix Mizuki’s collar which has become askew.

“Hey there, Micchan,” he says, smiling brightly at her. He straightens up and pats her head. “Go ahead and take a seat, breakfast is almost ready.”

Yuu turns back to the stove to finish cooking as Mizuki takes a seat, swinging her feet excitedly so that her socked toes barely brush the floor. When breakfast is ready, Yuu gets two plates and serves them before joining Mizuki at the kitchen table. He watches Mizuki eagerly dig into her breakfast before taking a bite of his own.

“So, Micchan, how's school?”

The bite of food Mizuki is bringing to her mouth gets stuck halfway as she freezes.

Yuu chuckles quietly at her reaction.

“What's that for?”

Mizuki lowers her arm and her gaze to her plate.

“There's this boy at school that keeps picking on me,” she begins. “I talked to Ennoshita-sensei yesterday and he told me that the next time he tries to pick on me I should go right to him and he’ll make sure it never happens again.”

“Oh? So this Ennoshita-sensei seems like a trustworthy guy to you?” Yuu asks curiously, hearing about the teacher for the first time.

Mizuki nods vigorously. “He teaches English and he always takes time to answer my questions even though he looks so tired all the time.” She pauses in a moment of contemplation. “I think he's my favorite,” she says finally.

Yuu feigns a scandalized gasp. “I thought _I_ was your favorite.”

“He's my favorite _teacher_ , you're my favorite brother.”

“Micchan, I'm your only brother.”

“Exactly,” she says with a giggle.

 

After they finished eating, Yuu places their dishes in the sink for future cleaning and he walks Mizuki to school. She holds his hand and skips beside him the entire way, humming quietly to herself.

Soon enough, they reach Mizuki’s elementary school and she is forced to finally release his hand as she enters the school gates. Yuu watches her all the way to the school building where she waves happily at a exhausted looking teacher observing the children arriving for the school day. He waves back to her, a small smile forming on his face making him appear just a little less sleepy. The teacher spots Yuu and waves politely. Yuu gives a small wave back before heading off to his day job at the local high school.

 

When the last school bell rings, Yuu makes his way from the faculty room to one of the school’s gyms. He relaxes a bit the moment he exits the staff room; he feels so out of place there as a temporary PE teacher after the previous one left at a sudden job opportunity in another town.

The only reason he got the position was because he was already an assistant coach for the boys’ volleyball team. The school was desperate for replacement, and Yuu was desperate for extra income. If he had the freedom,  he would much rather choose to play and coach volleyball, but he loves Mizuki and wants her to grow up wanting for nothing, so he took the open position.

Time seems to pass in a blur as the boys warm up, do drills, and play a practice match or two. Before Yuu knows it, the boys are packing away the volleyball equipment and Yuu has to say goodbye to the head coach before leaving to pick Mizuki up once her club lets out.

When he reaches her school this time, Yuu just has enough time to register the absence of the teacher from that morning before Mizuki runs up, crashing into him with a hug and a cry of “Nii-chan!”.

Yuu makes a show of staggering back with a light ‘oof.’

“When did you get so strong?”

“What are you talking about?” Mizuki says, pouting up at Yuu before releasing him. “I’ve always been this strong,” she says as she flexes.

Yuu chuckles at the sight and gently ruffles the hair on Mizuki’s head, saying, “You’re right I must have been confused for a minute there.”

She playfully swats his hand away before running her hands over her hair to fix the damage.

Yuu smiles and extends a hand for Mizuki to take as they begin to make their way home.

 

When they reach home, Yuu makes sure Mizuki begins her homework while he prepares a quick dinner for the two of them before he has to leave for his night job.

Yuu has just finished cleaning up the dishes when there is a knock at the door.  
“Come in!” Yuu calls from the kitchen as he is drying off the last of the dishes.

A few moments later, Tanaka Ryuunosuke, one of Yuu’s friends from high school, wanders into the kitchen. Ryuu looks like a tough guy but Yuu suspects he’s a bit of a nerd deep down. After all, he always talks about magic and its real life applications, but brushes away the subject as some thoughts on a Dungeons & Dragons campaign he’s in.

“Ryuu, perfect timing! I just finished cleaning up.” Yuu gives Tanaka a light fist bump as a greeting. “Thanks again for coming on such short notice. I know you usually have your D&D group meeting tonight, but the boss man only called me this morning asking if I could cover a shift.”

“Dude, it’s no problem at all, I explained the situation so they’ll get me up to speed next week. I’m always willing to help you out, after all. Plus, I get the added bonus of hanging with Mizuki-chan all evening,” Tanaka says, waving his hand in a ‘don’t worry about it’ gesture.

Yuu feels his chest swell with immense gratitude towards Tanaka and thinks he is truly fortunate to have him as a friend.

“Next time we go out, drinks are on me!” Yuu says, giving Tanaka a thankful pat on the back.

Yuu thanks Tanaka one last time before he leaves to hurry off to his night job at a local bar.

 

It’s pouring by the time Yuu leaves the bar. It’s extremely late and Yuu just wants to hurry home and get a few hours of sleep before he has to get up to work at the high school. He forgot to take an umbrella with him so he has to resort to running down the streets in his haste to make it home.  
He pauses to catch his breath under the awning of a convenience store that happens to still be open at this hour. Yuu recognizes it as the same store that Mizuki likes to go to when she buys cakes. He decides to go inside and pick out a cake as a treat for Mizuki, after all he received a little extra pocket money in tips from working the bar tonight.  
There’s not a very large selection and there’s nothing particularly fancy, but Yuu remembers Mizuki’s smiling face when she would bring some home and happily share a few bites with him. Yuu spots a stand of cheap umbrellas and he briefly considers buying one but he’s already soaked and they have plenty back at the apartment so he ultimately decides against it. He pays for the cake at the register and grabs the bag the cashier placed it in before he exits back into pouring rain.  

Yuu jogs down a few streets, clutching the plastic bag to his chest in an attempt to keep it relatively dry. He decides to take a shortcut through some back alleys in an attempt to get out of the rain sooner.

As he turns down an alley, a figure emerges from the shadows, blocking his path. There’s a lamp at the end of the alley behind the man, backlighting him so Yuu can’t get a good look at his face.

“Hand over the bag and your wallet.”

Yuu can’t stop the way his body freezes at the sound of the voice, resisting the instinct that told him to obey the command.

When Yuu does not immediately move to do as he was told, the man marches forward and delivers a swift punch to Yuu’s stomach. The force of the blow sends Yuu to his knees. Yuu’s been in fights before and of course he’s been knocked down many times, but he’s not sure he can recall a time the force of a punch ever winded him this much.  
He feels a tug on the plastic bag and Yuu barely manages to keep ahold of one of the plastic handles. His attacker continues to pull on the bag perhaps hoping Yuu will lose his grip. Instead, the plastic tears, dropping the contents of the bag onto the muddy ground.

The man stares down at the packaged cake in a moment of surprise. The brief glimpse of confusion on his face quickly hardens into one of anger.  
“The hell is this? I didn’t ask for this garbage!” He lifts his foot and stomps on the cake, squishing it in an instant. “Tch, fine. I'll just take your wallet.” The man bends down, reaching forward to rummage through Yuu’s pockets.

Yuu feels and inexplicable level of anger at the sight of the crushed cake on the ground. It's not as if it had cost him a lot of money, but the fact that he bought it specifically to bring a smile to Mizuki’s face, and he can no longer do so fills him with a raging fury.

Before the man has too much time to search his pockets, Yuu pulls a knee to his chest and kicks out at the man with all the force he can muster.

The man staggers back and Yuu takes the opportunity to jump to his feet and charge at his attacker, both of them slamming into the alley wall. Yuu pulls back a fist to punch his attacker but the man uses his loosened grip as an opportunity to shove himself forward and launch himself at Yuu. The man gets an arm around Yuu’s throat, effectively putting him in a chokehold and restricting his ability to breathe. He struggles against the hold, trying to elbow the man in order to make him loosen his grip but to no avail. Desperate for air and an opportunity to get away from his attacker, Yuu opens his mouth and bites down as hard as he can on the man’s forearm. He tastes blood as the man lets out an excruciating scream of pain and releases him. Yuu only just manages to remain on his feet as he gasps for the air he was previously lacking.

Unfortunately, his attacker recovers from Yuu’s bite before Yuu can finish catching his breath and slams his fist into Yuu’s face repeatedly. Yuu feels his lip split and tastes blood for the second time that night as he falls to his hands and knees on the muddy ground. Without a moment’s hesitation, the man kicks Yuu in the stomach, causing him to collapse fully on the ground, winded.

The man bends down, quickly fishing through Yuu’s pockets for his wallet. When he finds it, he straightens up and delivers one final kick to Yuu’s abdomen before leaving him lying in the dark alley.

Yuu rolls onto his back and just lies there for several minutes, letting the rain fall on him as he stares blankly up at the sky with a feeling of disbelief at what just happened to him. As the anger and adrenaline fade, he can’t prevent a few tears that well up in his eyes and roll down the sides of his face, mingling with the falling rain.

He had just wanted to use some spare money to surprise his sister but now he no longer had the cake or his wallet so he’ll probably have to ask for even more shifts at the bar. He had always been reluctant to take more shifts, because it would mean more time away from Mizuki when he’s the only family she has left. He doesn’t want her to grow up hardly seeing him because he’s too busy working to provide for her.

Yuu remains where he is for just a few more moments, regaining his strength and allowing time for some of the pain to subside before he rolls onto his hands and knees and finally brings himself back to his feet. He begins to stagger down the alley on the path towards home that now feels significantly longer.

 

After what feels like hours later, Yuu finally stumbles over the threshold to the small apartment he shares with Mizuki. He closes the door quietly, careful not to wake Mizuki and have her find him in this condition. He takes his shoes off by the door and silently makes his way straight to the bathroom to clean himself up.

He turns on the shower and carefully peels off his soaking, dirty clothes. He lets out a quiet hiss of pain as he pulls his shirt over his head and he catches a glimpse of the dark, mottled bruises already forming on his torso.

He washes off the mud and blood and spends a few extra minutes to warm himself up after being exposed to the cold rain for so long. He turns the water off and gently puts on a set of spare clothes he keeps in the bathroom for nights he gets home late.

By the time he exits the bathroom, his whole body aches. He can feel his left cheek begin to swel,l so he shuffles into the kitchen. Yuu is in the process of rummaging around in the freezer for an ice pack when he hears the door to Mizuki’s room creak open. He doesn't want her to see him like this so he tries to remain hidden behind the freezer door as she enters the kitchen.

“Is everything alright nii-chan? You're home later than usual.”

“Yea, everything’s fine Micchan I, uh, just got a bit held up back at the bar.” Yuu finds a bag of frozen peas and he lets out a quiet sigh of relief as he presses the cold bag against his swollen cheek.

“What are you doing in the freezer?”

“Checking for freezer burn.”

“At four in the morning?”

“It's never a bad time to check food condition. We don't want it to go to waste,” he says, grimacing behind the freezer door at his own poor excuse. “Now you should go back to sleep, you have school in a few hours.”

Mizuki is silent for a moment, most likely gauging Yuu’s behavior. Yuu can imagine she has the pensive pout she gets on her face whenever she is thinking about something.

She must decide everything is relatively normal because after just that brief minute she says, “Alright, good night, nii-chan.”

Yuu waits and listens to the sounds of Mizuki’s footsteps and the sound of her door closing before he finally removes his head from the freezer.

His body seems oddly hot now that he is no longer practically shoving himself inside their freezer. He briefly wonders if he could have caught something after being out in the rain for so long before a sudden wave of exhaustion hits him, and he wanders off to his room, peas still pressed against his cheek. He barely makes it to the bed before letting sleep claim him.

 

When his alarm goes off a few hours later, Yuu feels even worse than he had when he finally got home. His head is pounding, and his body feels much too hot which makes him think he definitely came down with something after spending too much time in the rain last night. He tries to drag himself out of bed, but as soon as he sits upright, he feels lightheaded and dizzy.

He goes to lay back down, and his head meets something plastic instead of his soft pillow. He pulls out the now thawed bag of peas from beneath his head and tosses it onto his nightstand.

Yuu doesn’t realize he’s fallen asleep again until he is woken up by Mizuki coming in to check on him. He’s covered in sweat and barely aware of his surroundings, but he thinks he insists Mizuki should go to school when she offers to stay home to look after him. He isn’t conscious long enough to make sure she obeys.

 

The next time Yuu wakes is with a start, drenched in sweat. He takes several deep breaths as he attempts to calm himself from the nightmare he had. He had dreamt that he was back in the alley, fighting that stranger again. In this dream, he watched through his own eyes as he confronted his attacker. The fight starts just how it had in reality and was exactly the same up to and through the point where Yuu bit the stranger. However, that was where the similarities ended. Instead of the fight turning in his opponent’s favor, this time Yuu gains and maintains the upper hand. In addition to the anger he had felt when he confronted this stranger originally, he is also filled with an uncontrollable bloodthirst making him want to smash the man’s head against the pavement repeatedly. It is Yuu’s own fear of the foreign feeling that allows him to tear himself away from the dream and back into reality.

Looking around the room, Yuu realizes he must have slept through the day because he notices his room has darkened considerably. He feels a bit better after resting all day so he decides to get up and take a shower to wash away all the sweat from his fever and nightmare. As he peels back his sheets, he spots a flash of red, realizing a split second later that it is blood covering his hands, forearms, and shirt. He searches himself for injuries and, finding none, scrambles fully out of bed and hurries to Mizuki’s room. Upon seeing her room dark and empty, Yuu desperately begins to search the rest of their apartment.

“Mizuki!”

Yuu feels an ice cold grip of dread take hold in his chest as he rushes to the kitchen where a light has been left on.

“Mizuki, are you-” his voice dies in his throat as he find Mizuki lying on the ground against the kitchen counter.

Yuu rushes to her side in an instant, taking her in his arms. Her left shoulder is covered in blood and what look like puncture marks but Yuu doesn’t waste too much time investigating. He grabs a nearby hand towel and attempts to apply pressure to the wound while he quickly checks for a pulse. Finding one, albeit a faint one, he checks to see if she is responsive, gently tapping her cheek multiple times,

“Mizuki! Mizuki, can you hear me?” Yuu calls desperately.

Yuu hears her murmur something but she doesn’t open her eyes.

He quickly considers the best option for help. He could call for an ambulance, which would take them to a hospital that is aptly prepared but risk wasting precious time waiting for the ambulance to arrive or he could carry Mizuki to an emergency clinic that’s just a few streets down from their apartment complex but risk them not being fully capable of handling the situation. Yuu settles on a combination of the two; carrying Mizuki to the emergency clinic to get her first aid as soon as possible while the ambulance is on its way.

Yuu immediately adjusts her in his grip, hooking an arm under her knees and lifting her with him as he stands up. He hurries out of the apartment, not even bothering to lock the door behind him.

Once outside, he jogs down the street towards the emergency clinic, worried that a full on sprint might jostle Mizuki. It’s agony forcing himself to go slower than he’d like to go, especially as he looks down on her still frame. The hand towel he still holds in place over her injured shoulder is steadily being dyed red and Yuu can’t help wondering how such a small body could have so much blood.

When he reaches the emergency clinic, Yuu barrels past the automatic doors, only waiting for them to open just enough for him to enter.

Yuu makes his way into the lobby and, upon noticing him with Mizuki in his arms, several nurses rush to his side to assist him.

“Please help my sister,” Yuu says desperately as one nurse reaches to take Mizuki from him. A second nurse places a hand on his shoulder.

“Sir, can you tell us what happened?”

Yuu shakes his head.

“I- I don’t know. I found her like this,” Yuu says helplessly.

“We’ll do what we can for her,” the second nurse says as the first gently transfers Mizuki onto a gurney.

Yuu tries to go with them as they roll Mizuki’s gurney down the hall but the nurse that spoke to Yuu asks him to wait in the clinic lobby until Mizuki’s condition is stabilized. Too anxious with worry to sit patiently, Yuu paces along the far wall of the lobby where he has the most space to move.

After several minutes, Yuu decides to call Tanaka; if he doesn’t talk to someone soon he thinks he’ll go mad. When he pulls his phone out of his pocket, he sees how late it really is and realizes that Tanaka might be asleep. He decides to call anyway and, when he does in fact get Tanaka’s voicemail, he leaves a message letting him know where his is and what happened. Once he hangs up he resumes his pacing for what feels like hours until a doctor approaches him.

Yuu hardly listens to what the doctor is saying as his world crumbles at the two phrases he does catch: ‘flatlined’ and ‘failed to resuscitate’.

 

* * *

 

When Ryuu is woken up at two in the morning by his phone alerting him to a new voicemail, he can’t help thinking grumpily that he’d put a curse on whoever it is if it’s not for something important. He rubs his eye sleepily as he plays the message.

“ _Ryuu_ ,” Noya-san’s recorded voice begins. Ryuu is immediately on alert because he cannot think of a time he has ever heard Noya-san sound _so -_ Ryuu isn’t even sure what emotion he hears in Noya-san’s voice but he can tell it’s something bad.

“ _Ryuu, I’m at the emergency clinic a few blocks from the apartment._ ” Ryuu hears Noya-san take a shuddering breath before the message continues. “ _It’s Mizuki. I- I don’t know what happened, I was sick in bed all day but I woke up and I found her bleeding in the kitchen. I didn’t know what else to do. They’re taking care of her now and I, uh, just wanted to let you know what was going on_...”

“ _I’m scared, Ryuu._ ”

The message ends there but Ryuu is already shoving on a pair of shoes before hurrying down the hall of the apartment he shares with his sister Saeko, only pausing to grab the keys to her car and leaving a quick note letting her know he’s taken it.

As he drives away from the apartment building, Ryuu prays that tonight is not the night he gets pulled over because Saeko refuses to take the van in to get that damn tail light fixed.

 

What would usually be a twenty-five minute drive, Ryuu makes it in only fifteen. After throwing the van into park, Ryuu jumps out of the car and runs into the clinic. He immediately spots Yuu, sitting hunched over in one of the waiting room chairs, his head in his hands.  

Ryuu quickly makes his way to Noya-san’s side, coming to a halt standing beside him. When Yuu doesn’t show any signs of having noticed Ryuu, he gently reaches a hand forward to place on Yuu’s shoulder to alert him to his presence.

Noya-san flinches at his touch but raises his head to look up at Ryuu. His heart sinks when he sees Noya-san’s face; his eyes are red and puffy, his hair is disheveled, and his expression tells Ryuu what he’s going to say before he even opens his mouth.

When Noya-san does speak, his voice lacks his usual cheery demeanor, in fact it sounds devoid of any emotion at all.

“The doctors said it was too late, that she lost too much blood. They couldn’t- She-”

Ryuu takes the seat next to Noya-san and pulls him into an awkwardly positioned hug.

“You don’t have to say it,” he says quietly, as Noya-san fights back a sob.

He lets Noya-san remain there, dampening his shirt until he is ready.

Once Noya-san calms down a bit and sits back, wiping his eyes, Ryuu stands.

“Come on, man, let’s go home. You can stay with me ‘n Saeko.”

Ryuu doesn’t say that he thinks it would be a bad idea to leave Noya-san alone in the apartment he found Mizuki-chan dying in. Ryuu has his own questions about what happened but those can wait for later.

Ryuu leads the way to where he parked Saeko’s van, and as he gets in he pulls out his phone to send Saeko a quick text to let her know what has happened and that he will be bringing Noya-san to stay with them for awhile. He also asks her to stash any magic items that may have been left around, the last thing they need is Noya-san accidentally stumbling upon magic in their small apartment. He then waits to make sure Noya-san is settled into the car before pulling out of the parking lot and onto the road.

The drive to the apartment is a silent one; Ryuu doesn’t want to turn on the radio and he doesn’t know what he could say to Noya-san so he says nothing.

Ryuu has never seen Noya-san like this before. Sure, he had known him when his and Mizuki-chan’s parents had died. He and Noya-san had been in their second year of college and Mizuki-chan was only about four or five. Of course Noya-san was upset at their passing, heartbroken even. However, at that time he still had Mizuki-chan and he stayed strong for her. He had needed her just as much as she had needed him; they were all each other had left. After their parents died, Noya-san dropped out of college and found himself two full time jobs to support her. Mizuki-chan was everything to Noya-san, he talked about her constantly, how kind and smart she was for someone her age.

Now that Noya-san has lost her as well, Ryuu isn’t sure how he will cope.

When they reach Ryuu and Saeko’s shared apartment, Ryuu lets Noya-san sit on the living room couch as he goes to fetch some spare pillows and blankets.

He promises to stop by Noya-san’s apartment in the morning to pick up some of his things as he passes the blankets to Noya-san after returning to the living room.

“You must be exhausted. Try to get some rest and if you need anything, I’ll be right down the hall, you know which room is mine,” he says before leaving Noya-san to get settled in.

 

Over the next couple of days, Ryuu and Saeko take turns staying home to work with Noya-san, doing what they can to help him make arrangements for Mizuki-chan’s funeral, and set it for a week after her death.

In the few days Noya-san has been staying with them, Ryuu has noticed some strange changes in his behavior. He hardly sleeps or eats; claiming he isn’t tired or hungry. At first, Ryuu chalks it up to his way of grieving but as the days go on he becomes less sure that is the case. Whenever he or Saeko do manage to get him to eat, even just a little, he struggles to keep it down. That, paired with the lack of sleeping and the sudden, unexplained way in which Mizuki-chan died, raises Ryuu’s suspicions to another, much worse possibility.

 

Two days before Mizuki-chan’s funeral, Ryuu has a coven meeting and he decides to broach the subject of his concerns about Noya-san with their leader Ennoshita.

He takes Saeko’s car again and drives to Crow’s Nest, a local bookstore. A small bell on the door chimes as he enters and he waves to Yachi, the bright but timid attendant, and makes his way past the shelves of books to the back room.

To Noya-san and any other friends of Ryuu, this is just the place he comes to play Dungeons & Dragons every week. It's a silly excuse in Ryuu’s opinion but after one incident where an acquaintance found a book on werewolves, it was the only thing that came to his head. The back room is larger than the actual store itself; it’s been magically expanded so they can hold their meetings and magical materials. The walls are lined with shelves of magical tomes and texts that Yachi and Kiyoko-san maintain as archivists for the Karasuno coven.

Several members are already gathered inside the back room when Ryuu walks in. Two of their lower-ranked members, Hinata and Kageyama, are standing off to one side of the room, investigating one of the shelves of books. Or at least trying to; from where Ryuu is standing, it looks more like they’re fighting than anything else, but that’s not anything new from those two. Kinoshita and Narita are already seated at the table, chatting with Kiyoko-san about the best potions books.

They’re not an especially large coven, including Yachi and Kiyoko-san there are only ten members. However, thanks to the hard work of the coven archivists, their members have the resources and skills to rival even the largest coven.

Once Ryuu finds his own seat at the table, the door to the back room opens and Tsukishima and Yamaguchi walk in.

“Ah, everyone’s already here,” Yamaguchi says, a little sheepishly.

“I told you we didn’t have time to stop by the pet shop,” Tsukishima mutters quietly.

“Pet shop?” Hinata asks, approaching the gathered group, whatever it was he was doing with Kageyama apparently finished.

“Yeah, I’m looking for a suitable creature to make my familiar.”

“A familiar! I want one, too!” Hinata crows excitedly.

“Dumbass, you can barely take care of yourself, let alone another creature,” Kageyama says firmly.

“You’re no fun, Kageyama!” Hinata looks about ready to fight Kageyama again, but he doesn’t get the chance because at that moment their final member, and head of the Karasuno coven, walks in.

“Sorry I’m late, everyone. I got held up at work,” Ennoshita says, swinging his messenger bag off his shoulder as he takes a seat at the table.

Ryuu can’t help noticing that Ennoshita looks more tired than normal. He was Mizuki-chan’s teacher, and it must be tough for the whole school community at the sudden loss of a student, especially one so young.

After seeing Ennoshita, working hard running the coven as well as dealing with his job and the loss of a student, Ryuu debates his decision to bring up his suspicions about Noya-san. He’s so distracted in his own thoughts that he barely notices when Ennoshita begins the meeting. He hardly listens to anything being said, only catching the final announcement before Ennoshita concludes the meeting.

“Finally, we’ve received word that the Dateko wolf pack has been expanding their territory so we’ll have to make sure we strengthen our own borders. They aren’t an especially hostile pack but our numbers being what they are, we can’t afford to lose territory as well.”

Ennoshita looks around the table at the other coven members.

“Does anyone else have any other announcements?”

When no one says anything, he says, “Alright, then we’re done here for tonight. Make sure you’re all refreshed on your werewolf lore, I don’t want any of you caught unprepared in the event you run into any of them.”

Once Ennoshita is done speaking, all the members begin to gather their things and rise from the table. Ryuu rises slower than the others, unsure of how to broach the subject of Noya-san.

It turns out he doesn’t have to because as all the other members leave the store, Ennoshita hangs back.

“You seemed troubled during the meeting, Tanaka. Is something on your mind?” he asks after stopping Ryuu.

“I, uh, you know my friend Noya-san?”

“The one you always get into trouble with? I only know him from stories you’ve told.”

“Well, you taught his sister. She, uh, died recently,” Ryuu says quietly.

Ennoshita’s eyes widen ever so slightly at this piece of information.

“Mizuki-chan is- was his sister? How is he holding up?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’m not certain but I think something is off about Noya-san. At first, I thought it was just his way of grieving but now I think it might be something else.” He explains Noya-san’s sensitivity to light, his lack of sleeping and eating.

“All of these on their own are acceptable methods of grieving,” Ryuu continues, “ and normally I wouldn’t pay them any mind except for the sudden and strange nature of Mizuki-chan’s death.”

“What are you saying, Tanaka?”

“I think something might have happened to Noya-san without him noticing, and whatever it was may have unintentionally led to Mizuki-chan’s death.”

“Do you have any specific suspicions?” Ennoshita asks.

“I think we may have another Kageyama on our hands,” Ryuu says solemnly.

Ennoshita runs a hand down his face.

“What do you want to do about this situation, Tanaka?”

“Mizuki-chan’s funeral is the day after tomorrow. I was hoping you would come and take a look at Noya-san afterwards to verify my suspicions.”

Ennoshita is silent for several minutes as he considers Tanaka’s suggestion.

“Alright,” he says, finally, “I’ll come to the funeral and afterwards you introduce me to Noya-san and we’ll figure this out.”

“Thank you, Ennoshita!” Ryuu says gratefully, gathering his stuff to leave.

“Hold on, Tanaka.”

Ryuu pauses, turning back to Ennoshita.

“If you turn out to be right, what will we do with him? He won’t be able to be by himself. He’ll have to stay with someone.”

“Well, Saeko kinda wants our living room back, and everyone else is either too irresponsible to take care of him or doesn’t have the room to keep him. But, uh, you have a spare room, don’t you?”

Ennoshita narrows his eyes at Ryuu ever so slightly.

“Plus, you’re more skilled at handling others than we are, that’s why you’re our leader, right?”

Ennoshita releases a heavy sigh.

“Fine,” he says, giving in, “if you turn out to be correct, I’ll let him come stay with me temporarily.”

Ryuu thanks Ennoshita again before finally leaving the store to head back home.

 

* * *

 

It’s overcast on the morning of Mizuki’s funeral and Saeko hurries around the apartment looking for spare umbrellas while Ryuu lends Yuu a black suit and tie he used to use for job interviews. It’s several years old now so it fits Yuu’s smaller stature more than it does Ryuu at this point in time.

Both Tanaka siblings called out from work for the funeral, so the three of them go together to the city cemetery on the outskirts of town.

By the time they reach the right spot, several other people have gathered by the grave site for the ceremony. Yuu does his best to avoid looking at the small casket lying beside the open grave, so he looks instead out at the guests still arriving before the funeral begins.

He spots some distant relatives, aunts, uncles, and cousins that all arrived from out of town for Mizuki’s funeral. Yuu doesn’t approach them, he doesn’t want to hear their condolences or be reminded that he’s now lost his whole family. As he continues looking into the faces of the gathering guests, he’s surprised to see the familiar, tired-looking face of Mizuki’s teacher. Yuu almost wants to go over and ask him what Mizuki was like at school, but the man sticks to the back of the crowd as the ceremony begins.

There’s a somber silence over the gathered mourners as the minister says a few words. As he speaks, the sky that had only darkened since the morning released its first drops of rain. Yuu looks up at the dreary sky, imagining that it too is mourning the death of Mizuki.

His view of the sky is cut off as Ryuu opens an umbrella and holds it over their heads, Saeko doing the same beside them. Yuu looks around at the other guests and sees they’ve all followed suit, now standing under a canopy of black umbrellas. He spies Mizuki’s teacher sheepishly tap another guest on the shoulder, asking to take shelter under their large umbrella. Under any other circumstances the sight would have made Yuu smile, but instead it makes his heart twist uncomfortably in his chest.

Once the minister is done speaking, they begin to lower the casket into the grave. Yuu, who had remained dry-eyed throughout the ceremony, having shed his tears for Mizuki throughout the past week, feels the sting of tears threatening to fall again. He hastily wipes his eyes before they have the chance to fall, taking a deep, shuddering breath to calm himself. The funeral is officially over when the casket is fully lowered into the grave and cemetery workers begin to refill the grave.

Some guests turn and make their way back to their cars and home to their families, others pause to give their condolences to Yuu. Beside him, Ryuu has Saeko hold her umbrella over his head so he can go speak to one of the guests. Yuu’s eyes follow where he goes, curiosity rising as he makes a beeline for Mizuki’s teacher, who, upon spotting Ryuu, hurries under his umbrella. They pause for a moment, exchanging some words before turning and making their way back towards Yuu and Saeko.

The man pauses in front of Yuu, looking down at him curiously. Yuu is surprised to find his gaze lacking any pity he had seen in the faces of the other guests; it had frustrated him to see those expressions, like they looked at him as if he were some wounded animal.

Instead, the man reaches a hand out to shake Yuu’s.

“I’m Ennoshita Chikara. I’m so sorry for your loss. I was one of Mizuki-chan’s teachers at school; she was a very kind and bright girl.”

Yuu takes his extended hand in his own and shakes it.

“Mizuki mentioned you once. I’m glad you could make it here today.”

“I almost missed it, but Tanaka told me the date when he asked me to come speak to you.”

“You two know each other?” Yuu asks, looking between the two. He supposes he should have guessed that since Ryuu had gone to bring Ennoshita over here, but he had thought it was some sort of coincidence.

“Ah, yeah. We’re, uh, D&D buddies,” Ryuu says quickly.

Yuu barely catches the faintest hint of a raised eyebrow as Ennoshita looks at Ryuu with an expression he can’t quite decipher.

“That’s right,” Ennoshita finally says, “now why don’t we go back to Tanaka’s apartment to finish this conversation?”

“Good idea,” Ryuu agrees. Yuu has no choice but to follow along with them as they begin heading back to the car.

 

Back at Ryuu’s apartment, the four of them squeeze into the small living room, Yuu seated directly across from Ennoshita, who stares at Yuu with a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Let me reintroduce myself,” he says, finally breaking the silence.

“My name is Ennoshita Chikara, and Tanaka and I know each other because we belong to the same witch coven, of which I am the leader. The other night, at our weekly meeting, Tanaka approached me, expressing concern that you might be suffering from a similar condition as one of our members.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Yuu looks between Ennoshita and Ryuu for any signs that this is some sort of sick joke they’re playing on him.

“I’m here to attempt to verify this condition, and, if it turns out Tanaka is correct, offer you the same assistance we gave our member.”

“What is this about? What ‘condition’ is this?” Yuu asks, his frustration rising at being left out of the whole picture.

Ennoshita ignores Yuu’s questions and instead asks his own.

“Tanaka tells me you’ve shown discomfort around bright sunlight and have hardly eaten over the past week. Is this correct?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Yuu growls in frustration.

“Please just answer the question,” Ennoshita says, unfazed by Yuu’s irritation.

“I guess that’s true, but it was really sunny this past week and I hadn’t been outside at all. And as for not eating I just haven’t had a very large appetite after…”

Ennoshita nods silently as he listens to Yuu’s answers.

“One last question, please answer it truthfully, no matter how odd it may seem. Now, is there any possibility, in the days leading up to Mizuki-chan’s death, that you may have ingested the blood of another person?”

“Of course not, I-” Yuu stops mid-sentence. “Wait, there might have been something.”

Yuu sees Ennoshita and Tanaka share a look that he can’t interpret the meaning to.

“Tell us,” Ennoshita presses Yuu to continue.

“It was the night you came to watch Mizuki, Ryuu. I was on my way home from work that morning when I got mugged. I fought the guy and I bit him, hard enough to draw blood. I don’t know for sure if I swallowed any, though. But what does that have to do with anything?”

“Tanaka- We believe that, shortly before Mizuki-chan’s death, you were turned into a vampire without your knowledge.”

“Now I know you’re messing with me. Ryuu, this is all some bad prank, right?” Yuu asks, turning his attention to Ryuu who can only hold his gaze for a few seconds before looking away. “No, you- you guys don’t even know if that’s what happened! All you know is that I fought some guy that mugged me!” Yuu growls, voice rising.

“Tell me, then. After that encounter, did you happen to fall ill? Did you become bedridden by aches and fevers for a day or so?”

“How did you know-”

“That was no ordinary fever. It was the vampire blood you ingested working its way through your system, slowly changing your body into that of a vampire. The reason you haven’t been hungry is because vampires only need to feed every couple of weeks”

Yuu leans forward and puts his head in his hands, taking a moment to process this turn of events. Under normal circumstances, he would never believe such a story, but he trusts Ryuu and their theory fits what happened to him. Ennoshita even knew about his fever without him mentioning it.

“Let’s say I believe you; what happens next?” he asks finally, lifting his head from his hands to look directly at Ennoshita.

“You’re welcome to join our coven. Like I said, we have a member, Kageyama, that came to us in a similar situation, turned away by his previous coven. We used our knowledge of magic to help him adjust to his new life as a vampire as well as developed charms and spells to help make living in a modern society easier.”

Yuu is silent for several moments,

“If this is all real and not some terrible nightmare,” Yuu says quietly, “does this mean I killed Mizuki?”

Ennoshita and Ryuu share another one of their looks that they don’t think Yuu notices.

“It wouldn’t have been your fault, new vampires can’t control themselves and they hardly ever are aware of what happens during their transition. I won’t lie to you, the next few months will be difficult but we can help you learn to adjust to this new lifestyle. Now, if you wish to accept our offer to help you, our next step will be you coming to stay with me while you adjust.”

“What? Why?” Yuu asks, surprised.

“It’s part of the system we developed, a member of the coven will remain with you until you’re fully adjusted and have learned control as well as to make sure you don’t harm yourself or others in the meantime.”

Yuu frowns at the unsaid implications of those words as Ennoshita stares him down with a knowing look.

Yuu looks away and begrudgingly grumbles, “Fine.”

“Good,” Ennoshita says as he stands. “Let’s get your things together, then.”

 

* * *

 

They reach the apartment in relative silence, pausing outside the door while Chikara digs in his pocket for his key. After a jingle and a soft click, the door swings open into the dark apartment. Chikara steps inside, reaching his hand to the light switch beside the door to illuminate the entryway was Nishinoya follows after him.

Chikara observes Nishinoya as he takes a look around after removing his shoes. Peeking into the kitchen, Nishinoya calls back to him, “Not a bad place you’ve got here, Chikara.”

Chikara scowls slightly at the familiarity of his first name, but brushes that issue aside for the time being. He can tell Nishinoya is sincere and genuinely interested in his new environment, but he can also tell he's forcing himself to seem okay. Dragging himself back from that thought, Chikara follows Nishinoya farther into the apartment, bringing some of Nishinoya’s things with him.

“The spare bedroom’s this way,” he says, grabbing Nishinoya’s attention as he walks in the direction of the aforementioned room. He points out the bathroom they’ll now be sharing as he passes by. Chikara walks into the room and places the bags he was carrying on the bed, turning around as Nishinoya enters the room after him.

“It's not much, but with some personal touches it can be nice.”

Nishinoya says nothing and Chikara doesn't know what to make of it. Taking a few steps towards the door, he says, “I'll let you have some time to settle in,” before closing the door behind him.

 

After giving Nishinoya some time to himself, Chikara decides to check on him and bring him a pack of blood he had gotten from Kageyama the night before, just in case Tanaka had been right, and well, he was.

He knocks softly on the door to the spare bedroom.

“Nishinoya, is it alright if I come in?” He pauses for a refusal and, getting none, opens the door.

He spots the telltale lump of Nishinoya under the blankets on the bed, letting out the occasional sniffle. On the floor by the bed is one of Nishinoya’s bags. By the looks of the mess surrounding it, Nishinoya had attempted to unpack. Along the wall opposite the bed, Chikara sees what appears to be a shattered picture frame.

Chikara walks over, carefully picks up the frame, avoiding letting any glass shards touch him or the blood bag in his hand, and peers at the picture inside. There are two people in the picture, one he recognizes as Nishinoya, but this Nishinoya has one of the biggest grins Chikara has ever seen. It's completely unlike the Nishinoya he's come to know; he silently hopes that the Nishinoya from the picture returns someday, when he's ready. The other person in the picture, piggybacked behind Nishinoya with a grin equally wide, is Mizuki. Chikara goes over to the bed where Nishinoya is still huddled under the blankets and sits gingerly on the edge.

“Hey, I, uh, thought you should try to eat something. I got this from Kageyama after Tanaka told me about you.”

He sees movement from underneath the blanket and finally the top of Nishinoya’s head peeks out, eyes and nose red from crying, and peers at the blood in Chikara’s hands.

“I don't want it.” Nishinoya pulls his head back under the blanket.

“Listen, you have to eat something. Tanaka told me you've barely eaten anything in days, not to mention anything you _did_ manage to eat wouldn't have held any nutritional value for you as you are now.”

“I'm not hungry,” comes the muffled reply.

“Don't lie to me.”

“I don't want to eat!” Chikara jumps slightly as Nishinoya sits up suddenly flinging the blanket off himself to glare at Chikara. “Every time I think about eating, I feel sick remembering the monster I've become. I killed my own sister; the last thing she saw was me attacking her whether I knew what I was doing or not.” He looks down at his hands in his lap. “I don't deserve to be alive anymore.”

“Don't you dare say that.” Chikara puts the blood and the broken frame on the bed so he can lean forward grab Nishinoya's chin, forcing him to look him in the eye. “Don't even think it. It's true your sister is dead and nothing will change that.”

Chikara sees Nishinoya flinch at his words but he presses on.

“But if you throw your life away, her death would have been in vain,” Chikara releases Nishinoya's chin and lets his tone soften. “Not only that, from what I heard from her in class and from Tanaka, Mizuki-chan adored you, and I can see from this picture that it was true. She wouldn't want you to do this to yourself. I'm not telling you not to mourn her, but Mizuki-chan would want you to mourn in a way that doesn't destroy yourself.”

Nishinoya is silent for a few moments, looking down at his hands.

“Alright,” he says, holding his hand out towards Chikara, “I’ll try things your way. For now.”

Chikara hands him the blood packet and watches as Nishinoya struggles with the best way to access its contents. Chikara can’t help thinking how much it reminds him of a similar situation when Kageyama was first turned, adjusting to his new diet and lifestyle.

Eventually, Nishinoya empties the packet, sucking out the last of the contents like some gorey juice box. Chikara holds out his hand to take the empty packet from him and rises from the bed.

“It’s getting late, you should get some rest.”

He nearly misses Nishinoya’s mumbled reply.

“What was that?”

Nishinoya responds in a quiet voice, not meeting Chikara’s gaze. “I’m afraid to go to sleep. I’m scared that once I fall asleep I’ll end up hurting someone; hurting _you_.”

Chikara is momentarily touched at Nishinoya’s concern for him, a total stranger, and he gently places a reassuring hand on Nishinoya’s shoulder. “We've worked with new vampires before. We developed magical wards to protect our members assigned to helping new vampires adjust,” he says, reaching into his collar and pulling out a small medallion on a leather strap around his neck. “ I'll be safe from you, or any vampires for that matter, for the foreseeable future.”

Nishinoya nods, absorbing Chikara’s words. “I'll try to get some rest then.”

He begins to settle underneath the covers of the bed as Chikara makes his way to the door, flicking the light switch off on his way out. Just before the door closes behind him, Chikara hears a softly muttered “Thank you” from the depths of the blankets piled on the bed.

Chikara makes his own way back to the living room to continue some of his research. From the side of the room that shares a wall with the guest bedroom, Chikara can occasionally hear Nishinoya tossing and turning and sincerely hopes there's a time in the near future where Nishinoya can sleep peacefully through the night.

After a few more hours poring over books, exhaustion strikes Chikara and he makes his way to his own room and the sweet embrace of his bed.

 

Chikara wakes the next morning to the sound of his alarm, signalling his need to get ready for work. Chikara remains still on the bed with his eyes closed for a few moments before reaching to turn the alarm off.

Or at least he tries to.

When he attempts to move his arm, Chikara finally notices an arm wrapped around his waist and a warm presence behind him. He shifts and cranes his neck until he sees Nishinoya sound asleep on the bed beside him. Chikara has no idea at what point in the night Nishinoya wandered in and he became an unwitting little spoon, but he doesn’t want to disturb what little rest Nishinoya must have gotten.

Chikara gently removes his arm from Nishinoya’s grasp so he can grab his phone and turn off the alarm. However, instead of extracting himself completely from Nishinoya and the bed, Chikara types out a quick email to his boss, calling out sick from work. He places the phone back on the nightstand, silenced.

He settles back into bed, closing his eyes, and noting, with some surprise, that the presence behind him is a tad comforting. Chikara thinks that, if this is what he’ll be waking up to for the next few weeks, well, that’d be just fine with him. Without realizing it, he smiles contentedly as he falls back into sleep.


End file.
